Blizzard register "Mists of Pandaria" trademark, Pandarens coming to World of Warcraft?

It already seemed likely that Blizzard would use their next expansion pack to add a new continent to World of Warcraft. Of all the new lands and races Blizzard could add, many players secretly held out hope that they'd finally get to see the tropical lands of Pandaria, home to a race of sentient pandas called the Pandarens.

MMO Champion have spotted a newly registered Blizzard trademark for "Mists of Pandaria." Those players might just get their wish. POMG.

The trademark, filed late last week, is registered to cover "computer game software" and "entertainment services," suggesting that Blizzard aren't simply using the title for a spin off product like a book. It could be part of an upcoming patch, but if the plan is to add the land of Pandaria, then that would likely require something bigger.

Adding Pandarens to World of Warcraft would be a spectacular move from Blizzard given that the race was initially created as an April Fool' joke for WarCraft 3 . Since then they've become more and more popular, and have worked their way into many different aspects of WarCraft lore.

The WoW wiki has conveniently amassed all of this Pandaren lore into one page . Essentially, they're an independent race of beer-loving panda men with awesome martial arts skills and excellent hats. The closest you can get to a Pandaren in World of Warcraft right now is to buy the Pandaren monk pet from the Blizzard store. Pandaria would be a huge shift away from the apocalyptic fires of Cataclysm and the recent Firelands update. How would you like to be a panda in World of Warcraft?

UPDATE: Graham demands we remind the world of the Pandamonium cartoon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom stopped being a productive human being when he realised that the beige box under his desk could play Alpha Centauri. After Deus Ex and Diablo 2 he realised he was cursed to play amazing PC games forever. He started writing about them for PC Gamer about six years ago, and is now UK web ed.